Contrary to fathers' rights propaganda, father perpetrators (along with stepdads and caretaker boyfrends) dominate the most vicious crimes against children: sexual assault, abusive head trauma, murder-suicides, crimes involving gun violence, and other similar forms of physically violent/fatal child abuse. And as more dads are providing child care (either because mom is working and can't find other care, or because dads are increasingly getting unsupervised visitation/custody through the family courts), more dads are are being found guilty of basic child abuse and neglect as well.

10/25/15 -Because of severe time constraints, we are no longer able to do regular updates at Dastardly Dads. We will occasionally post articles on general studies on child abuse/domestic violence, news pieces involving abusive fathers in custody/visitation situations. We wil also be updating the Killer Dads and Custody lists, while looking for a better, more accessible platform for the data.

7/11/16 - We started this blog on June 24, 2009--just over seven years. And like all good things, it's time to bring this project to a close. It has served its purpose. We have close to 10,500 postings regarding fathers and child abuse, with hundred of those cases being enabled by the family courts, social services, and others in authority. The documentation is clear. It is now time to stop documenting and put that energy into changing the situation that puts thousands of mothers and children at risk every day.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A 2-year-old boy is dead and his father arrested after a heated domestic dispute early Tuesday morning, police said.

The child's father and a woman got into an argument about 5:30 a.m. near Washington Avenue and West 28th Street, Cleveland police deputy chief Ed Tomba said.

The 23-year-old man walked out of the apartment into a shared space between two buildings in Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Agency's Lakeview Estates. As he was leaving, he turned and fired one shot back into the apartment.

That shot struck the sleeping 2-year-old, who was taken to Lutheran Hospital where he was pronounced dead, Tomba said.

After firing the shot, the father fled. He ran past a brightly colored playground and down a flight of steps to the back of property. Tomba said he tried to dump his handgun in a Dumpster.

Then he rammed his car through a nearby fence into a stone yard and continued on foot to a water treatment plant on West 49th Street, where officers arrested him.

Tomba described the father as "distraught."

Members of the child's family returned to the apartments from the hospital Tuesday morning and were sobbing.

"That was my cousin's miracle baby," Le'Shelle Dawson said, explaining the child's mother has sickle cell anemia. "She wasn't supposed to survive. She survived because Jesus has her in his arms."

Tomba said domestic violence investigators "have a history at this apartment."

Court records show domestic violence charges against the father were dropped in December. In 2011, he pleaded guilty to felonious assault and attempted felonious assault charges, and was sentenced to two years in prison. He was released a year early, according to court records.